Functional innovation promotes diversification of form in the evolution of an ultrafast trap-jaw mechanism in ants.

Autor: Douglas B Booher, Joshua C Gibson, Cong Liu, John T Longino, Brian L Fisher, Milan Janda, Nitish Narula, Evropi Toulkeridou, Alexander S Mikheyev, Andrew V Suarez, Evan P Economo
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2021
Předmět:
Zdroj: PLoS Biology, Vol 19, Iss 3, p e3001031 (2021)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 1544-9173
1545-7885
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3001031
Popis: Evolutionary innovations underlie the rise of diversity and complexity-the 2 long-term trends in the history of life. How does natural selection redesign multiple interacting parts to achieve a new emergent function? We investigated the evolution of a biomechanical innovation, the latch-spring mechanism of trap-jaw ants, to address 2 outstanding evolutionary problems: how form and function change in a system during the evolution of new complex traits, and whether such innovations and the diversity they beget are repeatable in time and space. Using a new phylogenetic reconstruction of 470 species, and X-ray microtomography and high-speed videography of representative taxa, we found the trap-jaw mechanism evolved independently 7 to 10 times in a single ant genus (Strumigenys), resulting in the repeated evolution of diverse forms on different continents. The trap mechanism facilitates a 6 to 7 order of magnitude greater mandible acceleration relative to simpler ancestors, currently the fastest recorded acceleration of a resettable animal movement. We found that most morphological diversification occurred after evolution of latch-spring mechanisms, which evolved via minor realignments of mouthpart structures. This finding, whereby incremental changes in form lead to a change of function, followed by large morphological reorganization around the new function, provides a model for understanding the evolution of complex biomechanical traits, as well as insights into why such innovations often happen repeatedly.
Databáze: Directory of Open Access Journals
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